A pause for drizzle.

And now, we interrupt your regularly scheduled garden activities for some weather.
If you’re reading this from Colorado’s Front Range, you know that we’re enjoying (or not, as the case may be) a rare day of sky-spit. The drops are almost too fine and too small to be called drizzle, though I know that this could change at any moment. And I know that at some point tonight it will get cold enough for the drops to be called sleet. Our weather is so different here that I tend to forget the “April showers” maxim.

[photopress:IMG_2897.JPG,full,alignleft]

There’s a certain beauty in the word “pause.” A pause to huddle inside where it’s warm. A pause to gloat, if your plantings are up to schedule; a pause to sigh if they’re not. But mainly, just a pause to think and appreciate the harbingers, like these little wildflower tulips I planted two years ago. I don’t know if they’ll get to bloom; they’ve been so buffeted by unseasonal warmth, then blizzard, then warmth, then snow, then wind, and now frost and spit. Drizzle. Sleet. Spizzle. Wot-cha-call-it. But I’m determined still to treasure their buds. I want to plan for something that blossoms between the bloom of these unabashedly fuchsia plants and the brave little uber-early reticulated irises that stuck defiant yellow tongues out at the March gusts. Maybe it could be a little planter of violas, which recently popped up unexpectedly in a corner of the lawn, where they self-seeded under the forsythia. I’m still waiting on the other bulbs, the white daffodils and the “Minnow” daffs and the late, clay-loving camassias, whose first foliage got battered by the big one-day blizzard.

And thinking about bulbs, and just how much they give back on a day of spizzle like today, brings me to a big Dirt Date coming up in Northern Colorado, or as I like to call it, NoCo. Here are the details from The Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins:

Lauren Springer Ogden on “Hardy Bulbs for Colorado Gardens” April 22 and 29th, 7 – 9 pm
Discover the best performers, from the earliest winter bloomers to the last autumn-flowering treasures, and all the wonderful spring and summer bloomers in between. Good companion plants and naturalizing bulbs in lawns will also be discussed. Springer-Ogden is the author of lots of garden books specific to the West, including:– Plant-Driven Design: Creating Gardens that Honor Plants, Space, and Spirit– Passionate Gardening: Good Advice for Challenging Climates
– The Undaunted Garden: Planting for Weather Resilient Beauty
The class is $25 per class for members / $30 per class for non-members. Call the Gardens to register, 416-2486.

Becky Hensley is the co-founder of Share Denver - a community craft space in Park Hill. She's also the proud Ninja-in Chief of the Denver Craft Ninjas -- a women’s crafting collective dedicated to keeping the DIY spirit alive through laughter, shared skills, and cocktails.

Colorado native Mark Montano is an international designer, artist, author and television personality. He has appeared on TLC’s “While You Were Out” and “10 Years Younger,” as well as “My Celebrity Home” on the Style Network, “She’s Moving In” on We TV, “The Tony Danza Show” on ABC, and “My Home 2.0” on Fox.